in vaine they are yet in their sinnes I shall speake of these in their order Of the time the place the persons I. And as for the chiefe time I call it as I ought the Lord's Day or Sunday because the Sabbath as ceremoniall was abolished at the death of Christ as in the second Chapter to the Collossians is declared And why a day must be still observed is inregard of what is morall in the fourth Commandement For it is absolutely and directly of the Law of Nature that some time be set apart for the publique worshippe and solemne services of God And why one day in seven is not in regard of what is strictly morall in respect of Nature dictating but in respect of Nature informed by the Divine instruction of the God of Heaven For whereas Nature knew not how to make choice or put a difference betweene one number and another it pleased God to instruct and informe Nature that thereby that which is not strictly morall ratione naturae might bee knowne and accounted as morall ratione disciplinae of which condition is the quota pars both for Tythes and for the time of God's publique worshippe And next why this part of one in seven hath since the ceasing of the Sabbath beene observed by us ratheÌ„ ron the first then second third or any other day of the weeke is not in regard of any precept expressely commanding it but in regard of the Churches practice at all times and in all Ages ever since Now they that began it were the Apostles being led thereunto by our and their Lords resurrection and by his often apparitions to them upon that very day rather then upon any other day beside For as they knew the Sabbath to be abolished by Christs death In like manner by his resurrection they had ground sufficient to direct them to the choice of a peculiar day for the observation of a new and chiefe Festivall and so much the rather because Christ used then as I sayd to appeare unto them Hence therefore it is Revel 1.10 Ignat. epist ad Magnes that Saint Iohn makes mention of a Day which he calleth Dies Dominicus the Lord's Day And Ignatius one of Saint Iohns Disciples telleth us that it was the first day of the weeke the very Queene and chiefe of Dayes renowned by our Lord's resurrection So also sayth Saint Austine Aug ad Ianua epist 119. c. 13 the Lord's Day was declared to Christians by the resurrection of the Lord and from that time began to be celebraeted De verb. Apost Serm. 15. And in another place The raysing of the Lord hath promised to us an eternall day and hath consecrated for us the Lord's Day By which he meaneth that Christ thus honouring this day did thereby as it were point it out as the onely day to be made choice of for the religious and solemne services of God Or to use againe his owne words Demonstrare consecrare dignatus est Ad Ianuar. epist 119. c. 9. He did vouchsafe to demonstrate and consecrate it Thus they and their successours first tooke it up Apostoli Apostolici viri This was their ground and from them to us the observation thereof hath proceeded and is still retained in the Christian Church Yea Iust apol 2. ad Anton. Imperat ppope finem and further even this Day which was thus frequently called the Lord's Day Iustine Martyr calls also Sunday and may fitly be so named not because the Pagans dedicated that day to their Idoll of the Sunne but because as another Father speaketh The Sonne of righteousnesse which enlightneth every one of us Saint Ambr. Serm. 61. did then arise Neither was it knowne to have so much as the name of Sabbath ever after in the Church of God without some distinction added to distinguish it from that of the Iewes For in a proper and litterall sence it cannot bee called the Sabbath Day as being neither that day which the Iewes observed nor of such strickt rest as was that Day of theirs And indeed the very stricktnesse of their rest gave the name of Sabbath to the Day which they were to keepe but was not the principall thing wherein the sanctification of it consisted For though the rest was strictly exacted yet but accidentally annexed and therefore now removed in the removall of that yoke of outward observances which for the time was laid upon them Gala. 4. For as the effect abideth so long as the cause remaineth but perisheth when the cause ceaseth so the strictnesse of Rest was to remaine so long as the Day and memoâ—y of the things vailed under the strict rest thereof abided But the Day being taken away the end and reason of the sayd Rest is gone and also the strict Rest it selfe which being figurative could not be too strict For the more exact the figure is the better it signifieth as in the Lambe for the Passeover well appeareth which was to be alwaies such as had no blemish And that this Rest of theirs thus strictly exacted was but accidentally annexed will be manifest if we consider the many causes more then the chiefe and principall for which they were to keepe it For though such a Rest be alwaies requisite as may promote the divine duties of God's publique worship and not be contrary to the observance of that precept which requires the performance of them Yet if there be other ends beyond that which the solemne service of God requireth those ends must bee examined whether they be connected with that end which participates with the moralitie of that Commandement which leades us to the setting apart of some time for God's publique and solemne service We denie nothing to be abolished which is as a meanes requisite to that end for which a Day is set apart But if in the Iewish rest there were things figurative and to signifie something which was either past present or then to come We are nothing bound either to the name of their day to the day it selfe or to the strict observance of such a rest as that day of theirs required For if this be not granted wee retaine not onely the substance but ceremonie likewise of the Sabbath their many ends of rest beside that for which the day was chiefely set apart must needes be the cause of an extreame stricknesse But being to signifie as aforesayd it was to them and not to us that God intended such a Rest For first they rested in memorie of the Creation which on that particular day was ended sixe dayes being spent in Creating Exod. 20.11 before that day of Rest approached From the memorie of which after the manner that they remembred it we are now called in regard that the observation of the day it selfe is ceased Col. 2.16.17 Not that we doe hereby deny God to bee our Creatour but acknowledge Christ to be our Redeemer And indeed the benefit of Redemption being greater then that
of Creation the memorie of the first is obscured by the last and so the one is to give place unto the other as in a case not much unlike it the Prophet Ieremâ—e hath declared Ier. 16.14 15. Nor againe doth this last impose a like commemoration with the former in regard of Rest because our Saviour did not so much rest upon that day whereon he arose as valiantly overcome the powers of death It may be rather said that he rested before whil'st he lay in the Grave and so they who are dead bee sayd to rest from their labours but to rise againe implyes a breaking off from rest and a beginning of labour which even in this cannot but be granted if the consideration be taken up with relation to that rest which went before it whil'st the bodie lay in the quiet Grave till the time appointed Nor doe I thinke it strange to say that on our Day of the Lord the memorie of the Redemption be come in place of that of Creation For tho we have the proper solemnitie of Christ's Resurrection upon that day which is called Easter yet this weekely day of publique worship being as Saint Austine speaketh consecrated to us by our Lords Resurrection doth not onely deserve to be made choice of for the peculiar day of our solemne Assemblies but to be judged also to relate in some sort to the benefit of Redemption Secondly their strict resting was a memoriall of their deliverance from the hard labours which they had lately suffered in the Land of Aegypt as is expressely mentioned in Deut. 5.15 Now this was a thing peculiarly belonging unto them and not to us Therefore they and we are not both bound to one and the same strictnesse unlesse their condition and ours were both alike Thirdly Ezek. 20 12. this their Sabbath was given them for a signe Psal 147.20 that God had then chosen them from among all the Nations of the earth to be his people For the Heathen had no knowledge of his Lawes but they had the partition wall was then unbroken In token of which favour they had the Sabbath which they were strictly to observe not doing their owne will nor speaking so much as their owne words as in these Scriptures is declared Exod. 31.13 Ezek. 20.12 and Esa 58.13 And albeit all Christians now be likewise the people of God yet because they are of more Nations then one and live in times of more maturitie they are not tyed to such a strict yoake as if they were still in the dayes of the Law but differenced from that Heire who whil'st he is a Child must live as a servant as the Apostle speaketh Gala. 4.1 For when the fulnesse of time was come the condition of God's people was altered as at the fift verse of the foresayd Chapter is declared And at the seventh verse thus Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne And therefore though bound to bee obedient yet freed from those hard taskes which of old were strictly required from the Jewish people Last of all their Sabbath was a type whereby was prefigured that Rest Heb. 9.4 which as the Apostle speaketh and of which their Canaaen likewise was a figure remained for the people of God to be purchased for them by Christ who being come and gone into his Fathers house Ioh. 14.2 wherein are many mansion places went to prepare them as was prefigured in the foresaid Rest of the Jewish Sabbath And therefore seeing Christ hath actually purchased that which was then prefigured it were injurious to Christ to lay the same yoake still upon our neckes Yea in a word by what hath beene said it cannot but appeare that although our Lord's Day or Sunday hath of late yeares beene vulgarly knowne and called by the name of the Sabbath yet of right neither the name nor manner of keeping it appertaines thereunto For there is so great a difference betweene the old Sabbath and our Sunday that it is a manifest mistake to urge those Scriptures upon us which peculiarly belonged to them in the observation of their Day But if the Sunday be no Sabbath Quest why then doth the Church in her Liturgie retaine still the fourth Commandement and say Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath day c. yea and why are the people bound to pray at the end thereof Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keepe this Law For answer whereunto Sol. this is first that although all the other Commandements are to be kept ut sonant according to the letter as St Austin speaketh yet this of the Sabbath is of another kinde being partly morall partly ceremoniall And if so then in part it is abolished and in part retained And being but in part abolished it must upon necessity have still a place among the other precepts For so farre as 't is morall 't is still of force and is therefore put among the Precepts of the Decalogue for that which is morall in it For as I said formerly it proceedeth from the Law of Nature that some time be set apart for Gods publicke service And therefore this being revived in the Law of the fourth Commandement ought to be remembred and kept upon one day in seven which last though unknowne till Nature was informed is now to be reckoned as that principal portion of time which God requireth And so last of all being bound to the morality of the precept there is good reason that we pray to have the Lord incline our hearts to the keeping of it for being strengthned by his assistance there will be care had that we decline not away from the observation thereof And whereas I formerly gave notice that it is the very chiefe of Dayes or as I then expressed it Gods chiefe schoole-Schoole-day I had reason for it because there is no Holy Day which the Church hath appointed to be kept of such eminency and excellency as is this Day of the Lord according to that of St. Austin in his 251 Sermon De tempore at the very beginning therof in these words saying Sciendum est Fratres charissimi quod ideo à sanctis patribus nostris constitutum est christianis mandatum ut in solennitatibus Sanctorum maxime in Dominicis diebus otium haberent à terreno negotio vacarent ut paratiores promptiores essent ad divinum cultum In which words appeareth not only the excellency of this Day above other Festivalls but the necessity also of such a Rest as may be no hindrance but a furtherance to Gods publicke worship For such a Rest as this is as a means requisite for that end for which the Day is set apart The ancient Sabbath had as hath beene shewed other ends which here in this Day can take no place because the Day it selfe is now abolished and gone and the armes of the Church extended further then to one only Nation All that can be added more is this
this and therefore are no more idolatrous then was David in the fift Psalme at the seventh verse Yea in a word if men were disposed to be right there stands before us in our assemblies a chiefe signe of God's presence as being that from whence we have our perfectest communion with the God of Heaven For though it begins in Baptisme it ends in the Supper neerer then which we cannot goe till we passe from hence to a better place So that although he give us good assurance of his Presence in sundry things and by many testimonies tells us truely that he is with us yet in nothing so much nor so really as in this high mysterie of our Religion And next albeit every circumstance in respect of the forme and fashion of these places not knowne at the first yet 't was a Dictate of the Law of nature that some place as well as some time should be holy to the Lord. It had footing as soone as might be Some say in Paradise Gen. 3.8 But more plainely afterwards for the place mentioned in Gen. 4. unto which Cain and Abel brought their offerings that their Father Adam as a Priest might offer them to God for them is at the 14. and 16. verses called the Face or Presence of God that is the House of God being that place where the publique and solemne services of the Lord were usually performed For first they came unto it sayth the Text. Secondly they brought their offerings thither Thirdly Cain also confesseth that he was excommunicated or driven away from thence that is he was expelled from the Congregation of the faithfull for Adam had sundry other Children at the same time as is signified at the fourteene verse How else could he be sayd to goe out or be driven away from the presence of the Lord who in other respects is every where And last of all 't is thus to be expounded because the Scriptures afterwards do so explaine the like phrases speaking so punctually to our capacities that whereas in one place it is Bring an offering and come before him in another 't is Bring an offering and come into his Courts See the proofes in the 1 Chron. 16.29 and in Psal 96.8 By the face then or Presence of God is here signified a peculiar sacred place where teaching hearing praying sacrificing and other duties of Gods publique worship used to be performed And so also in other the like phrases of holy Scripture for by them we know how to take up the true sense of this Afterwards we also finde that the Patriarchs used Altars Groves and Mountaines to the selfe-same purpose that Adam and his Sonnes before them had used their foresayd place of meeting As for example it is recorded in Gen. 13.4 that Abraham with all his houshold went up from Egypt unto the place of the Altar which he had made there at the first and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. And againe in Gen. 13.18 we also finde that when he came to Mamre and dwelled there he built in that very place an Altar unto the Lord. And in Gen. 21.33 when he sojourned in the Philistims land he planted a Grove in Beer-sheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God And in the next Chapter 't is also thus written that when he was to offer up his sonne Isaac he is directed to a Mountaine in the land of Moriab which signifieth The feare of God as being a place not of common use but for God's honour as was signified afterwards more openly when Solomon built there the holy Temple Next look upon Isaac who where he spread his Tent built an Altar Gen. 26.25 But above all that of Iacob is most remarkable who when he came to Luz found that there was an house of God which at the first he knew not and is therefore said to be afraid lest perhaps he had offended in not ordering of himselfe so there as of right he knew he ought to doe in all such places For indeed had he beene a stranger to such chosen places had he beene ignorant of their holinesse or had the knowledge of them been a new thing never heard of before among the Patriarchs he had not now suspected this to be God's house nor the Gate of heaven See Gen. 28.11.16.17.18.19 He lodged saith the Text in a certaine place had there a vision and by vertue thereof he presently declared that this was no other then the house of God and therefore a place of feare and reverence Intellexit Iacob saith one quod prius nesciebat Lipp in Gen. 28. ex Cajet tum Deum esse in illo loco tanquam in loco appropriato auditorii sui Briefly if we look at nothing but his feare 't is enough to signifie that he was no stranger to chosen places For supposing it to be granted that none of the Patriarchs had ever used to worship here yet that they had peculiar places set apart from common use is still apparent for lesse then so cannot possibly be gathered hence Now then if these things were thus before the Law they are ill advised who care not for the difference of places after the Law for if we be still the worshippers of our God we must still have places for his holy worship which must be dedicated and set apart only for him and his services Nay if we look no further then the dayes of Moses and from thence cast an eye to the times of David and Solomon it is sufficient For as the Christian religion is come in place of the Jewish so are our Churches come in place of theirs Their Tabernacle saith one was a patterne of their Temple and their Temple a type of our Churches even as all their service was a type of our Christ And also as it was of old Ye shall keepe my Sabbath and reverence my Sanctuary so now the Sunday being God's holy day in stead of the Sabbath the Church must be the place of his holy worship These two in that very saying hath the Lord ioyned together and therefore it is not for man to divorce or put them asunder If we deny the place we are against the day but if we acknowledge the one we grant the other In which regard Act. 18.11 although St. Paul at the first when he had iust occasion given him to renounce the Iewes and their Synagogues Act. 28.8 was necessitated to preach in a private house yet as soon as might be 1 Cor. 11.22.33.34 he took order for the building of Churches teaching moreover how both men and women should behave themselves in them And so did other godly Christians after him They were carefull even in the times of persecution to have such speciall places erected And although Dioclesian made fearfull havock of them yet no sooner was that godly Constantine become a Nursing Father to the Church but they were againe restored their number much increased
what dost thou here if thou art too pure to be one among us Verily might these men have their wills there should be no face of religion nor order in the Christian world They professe themselves to be Hearers but if you talke with them they are then become Preachers rather then Hearers bragging that Lay-men know the meaning of the Scriptures as well as Priests and therefore need none of their directions excepting when they direct according to what is already fixed in such a peoples fancy For I know well enough the bent of their bowes either we must preach what and how they will heare or they will not heare what or how we preach All or the most of them hate a written Sermon as abominable But as before they might have remembred not only that the Scriptures are not of private inter pretation and that the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge Mal. 2 7. Jer. 36. Baruck 1.5 and that inquiry is to be made at his mouth so also now that Baruck wrote at the mouth of Ieremie that is as Ieremy did indite so Baruck wrote Yea and Baruck also declareth that he wrote and read his owne Sermons To which purpose I may likewise adde what I have often read in the stories of the Church of one Atticus Bishop of Constantinople who preached many Sermons yet because they were done extempore 〈◊〉 l. 7. c. 2 Non ejus genoris fuere saith mine author ut merito vel ab auditoribus studiose perdiscerentur vel monumentis mandarentur literarum ad posteritatem But what care they for this and therefore to please the fancies of not a few we must roll out our Sermons without premeditation or else their tongues are fierce against us And now because every one will not produce such abortives nor doe the worke of the Lord so negligently for feare of that curse in the Scriptures they cry out and say We have an unpreaching Minister Ier. 48.10 a dumb Dog an idle Drone not at all considering that even they themselves are in the meane time possessed with that Divell which makes them deafe For if it were otherwise they could not but be better husbands and huswives of what they have heard and shew the truth of their zeale by the light of their practice Beside which this also should be remembred that as all have not received a like measure of gifts so neither have all a like measure of strength but are impaired either through age sicknesse want or other calamities Now in such cases if they stand so much upon Sacrifice that they forget Mercy where is their charity But do I speak any jot of this to beget a dearth of Sermons it is farre from me for I know that there is no famine like that of the Word Doe I not rather speake it to correct our Schismatickes in their idle wandrings and to inkindle the fire of a godly zeale in them towards the orders of our Church and forme of our prayers They may remember if they please that Hee who was daily teaching in the Temple said also that his Fathers House was an house of prayer not to one only people but to all nations Math. 21.13 Nay more there is this order to be observed in Gods service that prayer is to have the first place For We will give our selves continually to prayer and to the ministration of the Word say the blessed Apostles Act. 6.4 Or againe Doe I speake it to incourage the idle to goe and hide their talents glut themselves with pleasures or leave the Word to follow the world That be also farre from me for he that hath the meanest gift Math. 25.28.29 1 Tim. 4 14.15.16 as by using it he may increase it so by hiding it he may chance to lose it And therefore let every one of God's Ministers be conscionably carefull to feed that flock over which the Holy Ghost hath placed him to the utmost of his power and withall let his sheepe know that they are bound to hearken and listen to him and not forsake him to follow strangers For if the worst be said of him thus set over thee that can be I hope he will be able so long as he is with thee Act 15.21 to preach unto thee as Moses was preached being read in the Synagogue every Sabbath day or as the Epistles of Saint Paul were preached in the Churches wither he sent them 1 Thess 5.27 Act. 16.4 or as the orders of our Church injoyne us by the reading of Homilies Can 49. All which is called Preaching and may without question be profitable to such as apply themselves to be taught thereby Rom. 10.17 Mark 4 24. 1 Tim. 4.2 Esa 18.1 Heb. 4.12 For as faith cometh is increased and mannersamended by hearing and hearing by the Word of God So also by this kinde of hearing in which or in nothing you heare the Word of God For it came to passe when Shaphan read the booke of the Law before the King that herent his clothes 2 King 2◠11.19 enquired of the Lord humbled himselfe and was moved in his heart as the Scriptures beare us witnesse in 2 King 22.10.11.19 And last of all neither is it but the opinion of Martin Bucer that our Homilies were penned by some eminent Preachers such as that age did then afford of which kinde of Preaching * Sunt sanè quidam qui henè pronunciare possunt quod si ab altis sumant eloquenter sapienter est conscriptum memorie que commendent at que ad populum proserart si eam personam gerunt non improbe faciunt Aug. de doct Christ lib. 4. Saint Austin well approveth as may be seene towards the latter end of his fourth booke De doctrina Christiana For if he holds concerning some in his time who knew better how to pronounce then to make a Sermon that they did not amisse to seeke the benefit of their people by preaching what others had written then it must needs follow as an order fit to be embraced that we neglect not the reading of Homilies at such times as we have no other Sermons for hereby having the more time to provide us our owne Sermons will be the better and fitter to be preached They who have a charge under them and be not able to doe this if aged must be helped if indiscreet and ignorant doing things ridiculously or abusing things they meddle with ought to be removed for they have but crept in to the dishonour of the Ministery like him among the guests and want their wedding garment Wherefore all these things being well weighed they be more nice then wise more rude then learned more envious then charitable who inveigh so much at they know not what 4. The last are next Let them be summed up and thus they stand The wandring hearer the wondring or curious hearer the accidentall hearer the pleasing hearer the scoffing hearer the criticall or cavilling
jurisdiction and a Court for determining of Ecclesiasticall affaires What then remaineth but that the Officers belonging to such Iudicatures make uprightnesse their ayme that thereby all just cause of scandall may bee taken away from these their lawfull Courts For when they have done their best either ignorance or malice or both will be readie enough to traduce them and therefore so much the more are they like to be exclaimed against when indirect courses are plaine and manifest But herein care must be had that the scandall of injustice be not layd upon such as are free enough from it If some base minded under Officers abuse their places it is no good argument to prove that therefore Bishops are maintainers of unjust practises For we know for certaine the Church like a carefull Mother hath provided Laws to suppresse such abuses as she feared might be fostered in these her Courts Witnesse those many Canons concerning the jurisdiction of Arch bishops See the Canons of out Church Bishops and Archdeacons yea concerning Iudges Proctors Registers and Apparatours As in Canon the 92. that none bee cited into divers Courts for Probate of the same Will And in Canon 115 that Ministers and Churchwardens bee not sued for presenting And in the 116 and 117 Canons that Churchwardens bee not troubled for not presenting oftner then twice a yeare excepting at Visitations or that the custome of the Dioces be otherwise And in Canon the 121 that none be cited into severall Courts for one and the same crime but that the officers cerrifie each to other what hath beene presented to them And in Canon the 123 that no act be sped but in open Court And in Can. 127. 128. that Iudges and Surrogates be well qualified And in Canon the 129 that no Proctors retaine causes unlawfully And in Canon the 133 that Proctors be not clamorous in Courts And in Canon the 134 that Registers abuse not their places And in Canon the 135 that no Ecclesiasticall officer exact more than his ordinary fees And in Can. 136 that a Table of their said feees be set up in open view in Courts and Registers And in Canon the 138 that Apparitours shall not take upon them the office of Promoters or Informers for the Court. All which had beene never done if the Prelates had intended the upholding of wrong and robbery for by these Constitutions it well appeareth that they are no wayes bent to countenance the courses of unjust proceedings but to punish and subdue all such offenders And therefore to be as many I thinke are too ready to blame Bishops for maintainers of pouling Courts is as one truly speakes a matter in a slanderer to be punished and not a fault in a Bishop to be blamed In a word such is the generall loosenesse of these miserable times This was proved true a long while since as may be seen in an old ancient booke called an Admonition to the people of England printed anno Dom 1589. that all kinde of justice among too many is growne into hatred and contempt and men disdaine to bee ruled by it And therefore when they are called convented and punished for such things wherein they have offended or be bridled from that they would do disorderly they grudge at it their stomackes rise against it and thinke all that is done to be unlawfull although it be never so just And because they are not able otherwise to be revenged they cry out that they be cruell and pouling Courts But as I said before in advice to officers Let uprightnesse be their ayme so now to offenders in the words of God by his holy Prophet Esay 5.18.20 21. Woe be to them that draw on iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cartrope that call good evil evil good that put light for darknes and darknes in the stead of light that thereby they may the better nouzle themselves in feigned colours and imagined excuses although in so doing they do but like unto that wicked generation Who curse their Father and doe not blesse their Mother I should now come to the next particular were it not that stil I find another thing which the factious first and others next distaste and sleight too much And that 's the celebration of such holy dayes as they who live within the pale of our Church are urg'd to keepe But let mee tell them that in this they also go astray For though some sticke not to affirme that it is a * This they affirme because the Commandement saith Six daâ—es 〈◊〉 on shalt labour breach of the fourth Commandement and so a sinne to make more Holy Dayes than one in seven yet shall they never be able to prove why it should be a sinne rather now than heretofore For shall the Iewes be no transgressors of the Law though they have more daies than their weekly Sabbath and must the Christian offend in consecrating dayes beside the Sunday Yes say some for they were led thereunto by God's expresse command For some I grant they were but for other some againe they were appointed no otherwise than their Church ordained Ester 9.21 For did they not every yeare solemnize and keepe holy the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the moneth Adar in remembrance of their great delivery from the treason of Haman 1 Mac. 4.59 And had they not likewise their yearly feast of Dedication Ioh. 10.22.23 for the observation of which there was no precept and yet Christ himselfe refused not to observe it with them 'T is sure they had And therefore to say Sixe dayes thou shalt labour and not let to keepe holy any other day than one is an idle cavil and scarce worth the answering Howbeit for thy further satisfaction take this also with thee that God who might challenge all our time for his worke doth there shew that he is willing to remit * Which part is ordinarily six dayes though not alwayes as the Iewes themselves do beare us witnesse part of his right for thine owne workes yet so as he doth not restraine thee from doing publike service to him on any of those dayes which the Church shall appoint for except there be superstitious ends aymed at on the dayes set apart this which I say must needs be granted But say some againe though we yeeld to the observing of such weekly dayes as are either in honour of the Saviour of the world for the diverting of some judgment or for the testification of thankes for some great benefit yet why should the Church presse upon us the keeping of Saints dayes too as well as these Why because the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 112.6 and the memory of the just be blessed Prov. 10.8 as the sonne of the Psalmist hath expressed Or because of that knot of fellowship which is betweene the dead Saints and the living this being that Communion
up by the Emperour Anno 1048. in the yeare 1048. but Pantaleon out of Platina affirmeth that he entred by force After all which to adde life to the foresaid practises came Hildebrand otherwise called Gregory the VII in the yeere of our Lord 1073. Anno 1073. and he most of all exalted himselfe above the Emperours arrogating as a thing proper to the Popes the power of constituting Kings and Emperours causing the Emperour Henery the IV. to attend three daies barefoot at his palace gate Anno 1095. Anno 1102. Vrban the second and Paschall the second gave nourishment to Gregories proceedings Adrian the IV. chides with the Emperour for holding his wrong stirrop Alexander the third treads vpon the Emperours necke Celestine the third crownes him with his foote then kickes the crowne off againe to shew his power And to make it appeare that all was now in these Prelates hands Boniface the eight proclaimed it in an open Iubilee Anno 1300. in the yeere of our Lord 1300 cloathing himselfe the one day in the pontificials of a Bishop and the other day in the robe royall of an Emperonr causing two swords to be carried before him and these words to be uttered Ecce duo gladij Behold the two swords meaning that both the spirituall and temporall power were now in the hands of the Church and that therefore none of the Clergie ought to be obedient to the civill Magistrate In which tenets and practises both he and his fellowes did not onely transgresse the truth purely taught maintained and practised in the first times of the Gospell but also went contrary to the ancient times of those many godly Prophets and Priests under the Law witnesse in the Court of the Iewes one for all even Nathan who when he came before the King made his obeysance called him his Lord and acknowledged himselfe a subject or servant to him 1 Kin. 1.24 as it is in the 1 Kin. 1.24 And in a strange common weale Daniel in the court of Darius shal suffice Dan. 6.21 who prayed for the life and prosperity of the King Dan. 6.21 The reason of which obedience and subjection is not as they are Prophets Prelates or other Priests but as they are Citizens and members of a body politicke Igitur ut tales subjecti esse debent eivili potestati Therfore as such they ought out of duty to be subject to the civil power But otherwise in causes meerly Ecclesiastical they are exempted by a divine right from secular judgements For in all such causes as pertaine to men bearing office in the Church whether it have respect to the function of their ministery or to the key of their governement in foro exteriori Priests also must be honoured reverenced and obeyed than whose office I know as Saint Ambrose witnesseth none more excellent Aâ—…br de dig â—it sacerdot cap. 3. Iosepb antiq lib. 11. cap. 8. none more honourable which was also declared by Alexander the Great when he met with Iaduah the high Priest of the Iewes as Iosephus tels the story Or to come more neerely to our selves which was also declared by Theodsius the first who was willingly content to submit and yeeld himselfe to the reproofe and admonition of the aforesaid Ambrose by whom hee was though not excommunicated yet prohibited to come as at other times into the holy Temple by reason of that great and rash Massacre of the Thessalonians untill upon his heartie sorrow he obtained at length the assent of that holy Father For thus he though an Emperour was subject Domino spirituali as wee Domino temporali propter dominum aeternum Of which act even as it was done on either side Theodoret speakes after this manner Theod. lib. 5. cap. 17. saying that when all was done both by the Bishop and Emperour Tali tantaque virtute et Pontifex et Imperator erant illustres as it is in the latine version Meaning that what they both did the Bishop in using his power and the Emperour in submitting unto it made them both famous Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 24. And in Sozomen the same story is againe recorded To which is added that by the appointment of this holy Father the Emperour was placed or seated in the Church so as was thought to be most covenient And yet this man was no papall but a painefull Bishop one that feared not to speake or rebuke the greatest if need or occasion required him so to do For Neque imperiale est libertatem dicendi negare Neque sacerdotale Ambr. Epist 29. quod sentit non dicere It is saith he neither Prince-like to denie libertie of speech nor Priest like not to speake what he thinketh The one argues an affront offered to God whose messenger he is that speaketh The other is a signe of cowardise in Gods Minister who may not hold his peace if there be iust cause to reprehend And of him Saint Hierome witnesseth that his writings and books are incorrupt and that his sentences are most firme pillars of the faith and of all vertues beside The like to which doth Saint Austin also testifie Yea and the very Emperour himselfe confesseth freely that the sentence of the said Ambrose was just and right Nota enim est mihi saith he justiciae sententia Ambrosij Theod lib. 5. cap. 17. neque ille reverentia Imperatoriae poâ—estatis divinam transgressurus est lâ—gem Long before the which times was one Fabianus about the yeare of our Lord 239. Euseb lib. 6. cap. 33. who would not suffer the Emperour Philip to joyne tanquam consors in precationibus multitudini ecclesiasticae would not suffer him I say to joyne with the faithfull in their prayers when they were met in the Church untill hee had first stood in loco poenitentium because although he wished well to Christianitie yet in multis culpabilis effet that is because in many things he was still faultie And therefore to spurne against the power and authoritie of Gods Ministers and to draw backe from a mutuall or reciprocall subordination betweene the officers of the Church and common weale is but to kicke against the pricks and to joyne with Corah and his company who cry against the Priests Downe with them downe with them even to the ground for ye take to much upon ye oh ye sons of Levi cry such as these And so doing they be also in the number of those who curse their Father and do not blesse their mother And thus I am come to the next sort of Parents the Fathers of the Church Now though in this discourse I come not to these untill the last yet are they not therfore to be disrespected For prejudicate opinions may not rob another of what is right Nor is it any breach of piety to see the Church in dignity I shall shew it that there bee Lords spirituall as well as Lords temporall and that the best times and ages of the world
shall shew thee the sentence of judgement Upon which ground David setting the Kingdome in better order then in processe of time it was growne into 1 Chro. 23.4 appointed sixe thousand Levites to bee Indges and Magistrates over the people and beyond Iordan towards the West 1 Chron. 26.30 a thousand and seven hundred both to serve God in the place of Levites and also to serve the King in offices of State ibid. verse 32. Hee also set two thousand and seven hundred to bee over the Tribes of Ruben Gad and Manasseth to heare and determine in causes both Ecclesiasticall and Civill The like also did Iehosophat in his reformation of the Church and Common-weale 2 Chron. 19.5.8.11 Ezra was a Priest Ezr. c. 7. 8. yet who but he that first of all after the Captivitie ordered all matters both for the Church Nehe. c. 1. and State Nehemiah came not up untill 13. yeares after for Nehemiah was in the twentieth and Ezra in the 7. yeare of Artaxerxes Zorobabel I grant was long before but he did little or nothing for the reducing of things into a forme of government or suppose he did Ezra we are sure did a great deale more Neither was it 1 Sam. c. 2.18 c. 7.15.16 but that even before all these Samuel as a Priest ministered before the Lord in a linnen Ephod and as a Iudge did ride his circuit every yeare over all the land yea and in the daies of Saul although he was the annointed King yet Samuel ruled joyntly with him so long as they lived each with other or at the least was such a Counseller to him as that after hee was dead and buried he seeks to heare what he would advise or answer standing then destitute of such direction as he had usually received from him Nay sooner yet for Phineas was sent Ambassadour to proclaim war against the Rubenites the Gadites the half tribe of Manasses Iosh 22.12.3 The Priests overthrew the Citie Iericho Iosh 6. Nor did they afterwards but sound their Trumpets and bid the battell in the warre of Ahiiah against Ieroboam 2 Chron. 13.12.14 The land also is divided among the Tribes by Eleazar and Ioshua Numb 34.17 A thousand likewise of every Tribe is sent out to war against the Midianites under the conduct of Phineas Numb 31.6 And in the same warre the spoyles were divided among the Souldiers by Moses and Eleazar the Priest and the cheife Fathers of the Congregation verse 26. The people also were numbred by Moses and Eleazar in the plaine of Moab as they had been numbred formerly by Moses and Aaron in the wildernesse of Sinai Numb 26.63.64 From which testimonies it is plaine and manifest that some such Priests as the King thinks fit may when he pleaseth be lawfully employed in civill affaires or offices and may even thus be honoured as were those Priests of old And whereas some object that arguments drawne from the old Testament An objection answered prove nothing now under the New it is answered First that they may as well deny the arguments taken from thence against the Popes authority and domineering power over Christian Kings and Princes as denie these arguments for proofe of that civill honour which is thus given to the Ministers of the Gospell And therefore it is not love but envie which would seeme to bolster out things with such new Divinitie Secondly the Ministers of the Gospell as one hath well observed may with more convenience be employed in civill offices then those Priests under the Law whose time is not now taken up as then it was with attendance on the daily sacrifices great number of feasts solemnities and such like occasions by which their leisure was lesse to heare civill matters then now to the Minister under the Gospell Thirdly the Ministers of the Gospell have succeeded in a place of the Levites and looke what in that kinde was lawfull for them to doe is not unlawfull now especially seeing these employments pertained not to things typicall figurative or ceremoniall And fourthly although Christ and his Apostles were never thus employed yet is that nothing against our tenet For who made me a judge over you sayth Christ Intimating Luke 12.14 that unlesse the supreame Magistrate shall assigne Clergie-men to such offices they may not meddle with them But had the Church and Common-wealth been both one then it had beene as lawfull as in the daies of old which appointment or assignation was never like to bee so long as the Church was in the Kingdome of heathen tyrants Certain it is that when the Emperours became Christians some men of the Church were thus employed And although the condition of the Ministers of Christ differed not in this from that of the Levites yet it could not shew it selfe till then Examples are not wanting Theod. lib. 2. c. 30. Theodorit makes mention of one Iames Bishop of * Called also Nysibit Antioch in Mygdonia who shined with Apostolicall grace and yet was both Bishop and governour of the aforesaid Citie Or if this testimonie be obscure see another Saint Ambrose was twice employed in the office of an Ambassadour by the Emperour Valentinian and not without good successe Socrates also makes mention of one Marutha Socrat. lib. 7. c. â— Bishop of Mesopotamia whom the Emperour of Rome sent in an Ambassage to the King of Persia which employment likewise proved good both to the Church and Common-weale Neither can this bee called an inuasion of the offices of the civill Magistrate or be contrary to the rule of any auncient Canon when it is done by the consent and appointment of the chiefe Magistrate as in the lawes of Iustinian alledged by Saravia is apparent Lib. de honore Prasulibus et Presbyt debito cap. 20. And although the the Popes lawes have decreed the contrary yet it is not fit sayth one that we which are a reformed Church and have long since abandoned the Popes authority Dr Dove of Church govern pag. 40. should now forsake God and the examples of the holy Bible to follow the Pope and his Canons Fiftly and lastly Saint Paul thought it lawfull to spend his spare time in the worke of his hands But if the necessitie of Domesticke affaires may excuse a Pastour of the Church for so doing then much more may they be excused for doing such offices when the King thinkes it fit that they bee called thereunto as shall benefit the common wealth wherein they live Neither doth this appertaine to the entangling of our selves with the things of this World For that text where this is mentioned striketh at those whose covetous hands and greedie hearts are so glewed to the earth for the gathering to themselves a private estate that they forget every such thing as may tend to the good either of the Church or State wherein they live which every good Christian and therefore every upright man of God
will be carefull to avoid Nor againe doth that of our Saviour in Luke 22.25 denie the titles of civill honours to men of the Church Titles of civill honour are not their denied for it doth not as shall appeare forbid honour and authority or the titles thereunto belonging but ambitious seeking of it or them together with that tyrannicall using of it which the wicked kings of the Nations through the conceit of their owne greatnesse and soothings of their flatterers proudly take upon them And that this is the meaning of that Text appeareth by these reasons First because Christ acknowledged that the title Rabbi which signifieth a Master an honourable person or a man that is eminent by reason of his many dignities and places of honour that he holdeth was a title of right belonging to him Hee disclaimed it not but embraced it Ye call mee Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am Iohn 13.13 Secondly Iohn Baptist was called Master and not refused it Luke 3.12 Thirdly although Saint Paul and Barnabas (*) Act. 14.15 denied to be worshipped with Divine honour yet when Paul and Silas were reverenced with civill honour and called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords by the Master of the Prison they made no scruple of it but onely sayd Beleeve in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16.30 Fourthly the change of Abram to Abraham and of Sarai to Sarah witnesse no lesse for their names being thus changed were not onely a token of confirming the promise but also an honourable favour which God himselfe vouchsafed to them Dr. Willet ex Mercer in Gen. for their greater grace and respect among those with whom they lived as was seene when Abraham communed with the Children of Heth who answering sayd unto him Heare us my Lord thou art a mighty Prince among us Gen. 23.6 And God also told Abimilech that he was a Prophet Gen. 20.7 Fiftly because when Obadiah met Elias he fell on his face and sayd Art thou my Lord Elias He answered yea Goe and tell thy Lord behold Elias is here 1 Kings 18.7.8 Sixtly because Elisha accepted of the like title as it is in the 2 Kings 4.16 In which regard Beza noted not amisse upon these words in Mat. 23.8 Bee not yee called Rabbi c. Ne vocemini id est Ne ambiatis Bee not ye called that is doe not ambitiously seeke after that title or pride your selves in it for otherwise our Sauiour doth not accept against any either for not denying the titles of their office or for not refusing the honour due unto them And here an end of this Section SECT II. THE next thing that followeth is That the people give eare and come where they may heare the Doctrines rebukes and exhortations of their ghostly Fathers For though they be men whom the Lord hath assigned to this holy office yet men to whom hee hath conveighed a peculiar grace 2 Tim. 1.6 ibid. which the Orthodox and right do so stirre up that when they preach they preach not themselves but Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.5 Heb. 5.4 They have power to officiate but they take it not it is given them before they have it It came to those of Christs schoole from Christ himselfe but was not to end with them for there is a * building which cannot be perfected without it And being therefore appointed for it Ephes 4.12 Mat. 28. ult it hath beene conveighed ever since by the imposition of hands to such as are not otherwise any lawfull Priests of God And finally that care may be had in the conveighance hereof It is the counsell of Saint Paul to Timothie 1 Tim. 5.22 That he lay hands upon no man suddenly Thus then we have it and are by this meanes become persons sacred and have authoritie to deale in holy things We blesse in the name of him that blesseth The dispensation of the Word and Sacraments is committed to us We have power to binde Mat. 18.18 2 Cor. 5.20 wee have power to loose wee are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us The message is from Heaven as delivering to you God's blessed will out of his holy Word And therefore to be received 1 Thess 2.13 not as the word of men but as the Word of God So that as we if we love the Lord Ioh. 21.15.16 will feede his Lambes and Sheepe In like manner ye if ye despise not Christ Luke 21.16 Acts 7.51 nor resist the holy Ghost will be content to hearken to the words of those by whom he speaketh For this he doth hee speaketh by us though not by immediate inspiration as some phantastickes fondly dreame yet by our rightly dividing that Word of truth which is properly and indeed the Word of God Aug. cont Epist Parmenioni l. 2. c. 11. In cujus praedicatione spiritus Sanctus operatur as Saint Austine speaketh So that though our Sermons ought to have no greater credit then they can gaine unto themselves by their agreement with the Scriptures yet not dissenting from them they are truely and indeed the Truth and Doctrine of God and though not his Word by immediate inspiration yet the Word of God in a secundarie sence as being the sober explication and application of some such part or portion of the Word as we then pitch upon In which regard the Preachers of it are Co-workers or jont-labourers with God as even the Apostles were For though we cannot bee compared with them in worthinesse of grace and vertue yet in likenesse of office and Ministerie we may and must And indeed t is a perpetuall Sanction Mal. 2.7 that the Priests lippes are to preserve knowledge and that the people seeke the Law at their mouthes for even in this they are the messengers of the Lord of Hosts So that in what way so ever they convey or give notification of the object of faith which is the Word unto the people whether it be by reading or otherwise it is to be of more esteem then when t is done by any other Which I doe not note to deterre Lay-people from reading of the Scripture but to shew the difference that is betweene their reading and ours as also to signifie that no Scripture is of private interpretation 1 Pet. 1.20 as Saint Peter hath declared And now to the amplifying of all this thus I proceed The Lord's Day or Sunday is God's chiefe schoole-Schoole-day wherein God's people must come to the Church for that 's his Schoole-house wherein among other duties to bee done they must heare his Word for that 's their lesson Some be Truants and care not for comming Others be Recusants and may not come to joyn themselves with us A third sort be Schismaticks and will not come except where they affect and when they please And last of all others be indifferent and will sometimes come but in respect of the end their comming and hearing is
Nature requireth some refreshment Religion teacheth us to be mercifull to our very Beasts Prov. 12.10 Deut. 5.14 and if to them much more to our servants In which regard the other parts of the Day and so the whole Day are fitly freed from all servile labours except in urgent cases of extreame necessity which also makes it not unlawfull to take in hand some harmlesse recreation for refreshment after the ends of all Divine-services in the publike assemblies For when all the publike duties of the Day be ended then is that accomplished for which the day is chiefly set apart And because this cannot be done without Rest there is a cessation from ordinary labours both before and at the times of publike worship Before for preparation that thereby we bring not with us Cor fatui Eccles 5.1 Exod. 3.5 A fooles heart as Solomon speaketh but be fitted aforehand for the sacred employments to which we are going And at the times likewise because the one cannot be done without the other that is our owne private businesses and the generall and publike duties of piety and devotion cannot be followed both at once And because the Rest also of the Day points at mercy as well as sacrifice of which there is something spoken in Deut. 5.14 harmlesse recreation which is a meanes of refreshment claimes her priviledge and steps in at the last after all the publike services for the Day be ended yea and as the case with some may at sometimes stand is not so long denied them no not so long as then But some singular priviledge is not to be alledged as a generall practice And therefore as it is both a pious and prudent constitution of the Church Can. 14. Eccles Anglic. Aug. de temp Ser. 251. to appoint by way of preparation certain holy offices to be vsed on the Eve before In like manner as pious and prudent is it for a Christian Magistrate See this in his Majesties Declarat not to suffer any sportings or recreations till all the publike Services of our God be ended for that present Day and that none should enjoy the benefit of this liberty who hath not first resorted to the Church nor that it be abused but used in a moderate discreet and pious way Now albeit this liberty be both thus qualified and comes not in place till God be first served yet there want not those who trouble both the peace of the Church and State by setting themselves against it But he who hath said Hos 6.6 Math. 12.7 I will have mercy and not sacrifice hath said enough to signifie that he will not then be displeased at it especially in those whose education or parts be such as are unfit for long meditation the rigid tye whereof being laid upon them makes the Rest of this Day more burthensome unto them then their weekly labours Or if Christ could say of the Jewish Sabbath that it was made for man and not man for it Math. 12.8 then much more may we affirme it of our Festivall in as much as their yoake of ceremonious bondage belongs not to us Howbeit they are not to be excused who have more minde of their Pastime then of their pious and holy worship wishing in their hearts that the Priest would make a quicke dispatch by cutting short the service of the Day For what is this but to have hell set at liberty there being no better concord then thus betweene them and heaven They doe indeed desire to have a Day set apart but because they preferre the lesse principall end of its separation before the chiefe they observe a Day not as they which observe it to the Lord but as they that observe it to themselves And therefore we justly reckon these among such as are willingly desirous to prophane this blessed Day although it be now the Queene of dayes and time of greatest eminency for Gods publike worship Nor againe do we blame those who without hypocrisie and superstition spend the whole day in workes of piety and devotion For as Christ said in some cases so may we say in this it is a thing commendable Math. 19.12 and therefore Let him that is able to receive it receive it without judging of anothers liberty The one may not be accounted irreligious or prophane in the lawfulll use of his Christian freedome nor the other over strict if he judge not his brother in the copious measure of his more plentifull devotions II. And thus I have done with the first thing the circumstance of time That of the place is next This is the Temple or Church Gods House and his earthly Sanctuary whereunto they who seeke his face will resort Which is as Abraham sayd In the Mountaine will the Lord be seene For though the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe him or although in a strict sense hee dwelleth not in Temples made with hands because of his Omni-presence Yet neverthelesse he hath vouchsafed to afford different manners and degrees of his Presence and is otherwise in Heaven otherwise in earth Nor on earth is he every where alike for in such places as are dedicated to his Name 1 King 9 3. Psal 132.15 he hath promised a more speciall dispensation of his Presence then in places of common use and to accept of them as his peculiar houses In token whereof we doe not onely reade Psal 87.2 that the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Iacob and that he sayd his eyes and his heart should be in that house which Solomon had builded for him Psal 42.2 Psal 105.4 Psal 132.8 2 Chro. 6.41 Gen. 4.14.15 Gen. 28.16 17. but also that the sayd Temple Tabernacle and first places of his worshippe are not seldome called the Rest and Face of God and the gate of Heaven Enough to signifie that both by his more speciall Presence and by a peculiaritie of proprietie these places are become sacred and are so the Lords as that they be no longer ours He also herein vouchsafing it as a speciall honour even to the places themselves that they be so called named and esteemed the comfortable effects of that by which the place is thus named being alwaies such as shall be sure to shew themselves Mat. 18.20 Psal 145.18 by the religious sinceritie of devoute worshippers And if in the generall such be not onely the peculiaritie of proprietie but honour likewise of sett and prepared places then in particular that which hath the most neere relation to his Presence must needs carry with it both the highest proprietie and be also taken up in our regard as the most Presentiall place in all his House This the Ancients as some also now adayes did so well observe that doing their obeysance they turned their faces this very way and yet were neither superstitious nor idolatrous for doing so We professe and say indeed the Lord is there but not the Lord is
and their beauty made apparent in a glorious and well beseeming manner Which because it was not so at the first the Gentiles made a mock at Christians as if they had neither Churches nor Altars whereas in very deed they had them both Churches though no such stately structures as were erected by the Gentiles and Altars too though not for such sacrifices as were theirs For indeed though persecution kept the Christians under yet they laboured what they could to have prepared places for their holy worship never meeting elsewhere but when necessity urged them to it And in this though dead they cry against our sick-braine Schismaticks who upon no necessity are in a manner as well devoted to any one place they care not where either to a wood a Chamber a Parlour or a Barne as to a place separated and dedicated on purpose to the God of heaven This therefore makes them preach in chaires and maintaine their faction in private conventicles to the harme and detriment of God his Church For 't is without question that although Churches are not necessay necessitate absoluta yet necessary necessitate conditionata that is when we may enjoy them we must upon necessity provide them and being provided we must frequent maintaine honour and reverence them as the Houses of God and places of his speciall presence here upon earth So that as on the one side we blame all Schismaticks in that already mentioned in like manner on the other side we blame both them and all rude kindes of people who are not afraid to make as bold with God's house as with their owne putting no difference betweene things sacred and prophane betweene things set apart and things of common use God grant they repent not when it is too late For it is Theodorets observation that against all Senacharibs army the Lord sent forth but one Angel only but against the prophaners of his Temple six For when Ezekiel painted forth the abominations of the Temple Ezek. c. 8. c. 9. he saith Behold there came six from the way of the upper gate which looked towards the North and every one of them had vasa interfectionis the vessels of slaughter in his hand Dan. 5.23.24 c. And when Balthasar was quaffing in the vessels of the Temple the hand-writing came against him to signifie that he was weighed in the Ballance and found too light And in times which do more neerly touch us who hath not heard of that filthy Iulian who was uncle to the Apostata who hath not heard I say both of his irreligious actions and his punishment This Iulian comming into a Church beautified and adorned by that zealous Constantine made no more regard of it then if he had beene in a common Iakes or Stable whereupon we reade that he feared not to pisse against the Holy Table as Theodoret hath recorded Theod. lib. 3. c. 12.13 But the God of heaven abhorring this wrong done to his House and Altar in it soone after laid his heavie hand upon him and struck him with such a fearfull disease that his excrements forgat all their former passages and found no other way then his wicked mouth to evacuate themselves from his hatefull body So in like manner do we read of Felix who only for scoffing at the plate belonging to that blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour was pursued by divine punishment For so it was that both night and day quickly after he never ceased to vomit blood till the rivolets of his veines Idem ibid. and every other part of his body became empty and so he dyed being overcome by the immediate hand of a just Revenger And therefore Procul ite prophani for neither is this a place of common use nor in these vessels may you drink your mornings draughts nor use them safely at your common boards The case you see is not altered yet 'T is nune ut olim still Christs comming hath not altered it For as before he came Balthasar was punished so since his comming not only were the buyers and sellers whipt out of the Temple but Iulian and Felix have beene met with In which passage I would that this should be likewise marked that it was not in the time of divine Service when Iulian pissed against the Table no holy congregation was then assembled nor yet were the vessels employed about holy actions when filthy Felix scoffed at them and therefore in these things and places there is such a relative propriety as never ceaseth but makes them alwayes Holy and alwayes His to whom they be dedicated and set apart Which how it makes for those who think that they have yeelded farre enough if they honour God's house on the Sunday though they disrespect it or behave themselves rudely in it all the week after let any man be Iudge for such thoughts are apparently deceitfull and therefore such men must rectifie themselves and returne to a better minde otherwise they persist in a banefull evill Saint Austin I remember reporteth that the Goths having sackt Rome as many of the people as betook themselves to the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul remained free so much could the respect of sacred places prevaile even with those cruell Barbarians Ambr. lib. 5. epist 33. Saint Ambrose also witnesseth that the reverence of holy Altars prevailed so far with the foresaid Souldiers that they willingly fell downe and kissed them And Saint Hierom against Vigilantius saith Confiteor timorem meum I confesse my feare when entring into the Temple of the * Churches are not crected to Saints or Martyrs but to their and our God in memory of them So also concerning Holy dayes Martyrs I conceive any anger or evill thought in my minde But what shall I need to say any more seeing the very feasts of Charitie were driven hence as in the Councell of Laodicea at the twenty eighth Canon is declared And next whereas some make doubt whether it be lawfull for Christians in the contriving of their Churches to have an eye upon the Fabrick of Solomons Temple My answere is that as that proportion of time for Gods holy worship is most warrantable which he himselfe ordained So that forme or fashion of place is best to be followed which he himselfe delivered other fashions have no warrant It is true indeed that they were Iewes and we are Christians and therefore there must be a difference between us Yet the difference herein needs not to be in the forme of our Fabricks but in the use of the Courts and places which are so divided as if the one tooke patterne from the other And so indeed they did for as to the one there was an Atrium exterius an Atrium interius a Sanctum and a Sanctum Sanctorum So to the other a Locus Poen tentium Auditorium Presbyterium and Sacrarium Of the first and second Eusebius speaketh in the sixt booke and 33th Chapter of his Ecclesiasticall
obey the officers of his Church whom they have seene For as judicious Hooker truly speaketh It doth not stand with the duty which we owe to our heavenly Father who is the universall Father of us all that to the ordinances of our mother the Church we should shew our selves disobedient Let us not say wee keepe the Commandements of the one when we breake the Lawes of the other for unlesse wee observe both we obey neither And againe seeing Christ saith he hath promised to be with his Church untill the end of the world her Laws and Ordinances cannot be contemned or broken without wrong and despight to Christ himselfe Neither doe the words of Solomon but tend to the same purpose For he doth not only say Prov. 1.8 Heare thy fathers instruction but addeth also and forsake not thy mothers teaching By Father meaning either God who is the universall Father of all creatures or the Pastours of the Church who are sent of God as Ghostly Fathers to teach and instruct the people And by Mother meaning the Governours of the Church as even the Genevae note declareth Or more plainly thus They who teach and instruct thee in the Word must be heard and not only so but even the laws and directions of the Guides and Rulers who sit to governe may not be neglected And what our Saviours doctrine likewise is concerning this you have heard already and may heare more afterwards when you have read a little further In the mean time if I be desired to speak more plainely concerning the word Church What is meant by the word Church and of changing the phrase from Father to Mother whose lawes must be obeyed My answer is that here is not meant the whole popular or collective company of beleevers but the Church in her Officers which is differing from the popular and promiscuous bodie thereof For the Church is either representative or collective By the first is meant onely the spiritualitie and chiefely the governing Fathers or highest Priests By the second all others as well as the former them and all who live within the compasse or pale of one the same Church And because the whole Church together is oftentimes resembled to a woman bringing forth and nourishing up of Children unto Christ we sometimes alter the phrase from Father to Mother although we speake but of the Church in a representative bodie where by a Synecdoche one part is put for the whole But I proceed A twofold objection And here some object that the Church officers either bring in rites and orders at which their conscience stumbleth Or secondly that Bishops ought not to have any Courts Ecclesiastical for the correction of those who break such lawes as are sayd to be the lawes of the Church Answer â— Answ to the first objection Who can speake more like loose Libertines then these But I answere more distinctly First See the Conference at Hampton Court pag. 66. that it is an ordinarie thing for those who affect singularitie to turne all into a subtill inquirie rather then into an harmelesse desire of being satisfied and under an outward cloake of religion and conscience hypocritically to cover the grossenesse of their disobeience which is as Christ sayd of the Pharisees They doe things under pretence For it is to be feared that some of them which pretend weaknesse and doubting are as King Iames observeth strong enough and such as think themselves able to teach the King and all the Bishops of the Land In which case there is I thinke no better way to cure them then that Aarons rod should devoure their Serpents otherwise they will not only hisse against but also sting where they can the bosome of the Church Now in this perhaps as their custome is they will be ready to complaine of cruelty and persecution But doe they not know Non est crudelit as pro Deo pietas as saith Saint Hierom Zeale for God and the Churches peace is no cruelty neither are they persecuted whom the hand of Justice punisheth for breaking the Law They may beare the world in hand that they suffer for their conscience and abuse the credulity of the simple herein but wise and moderate men know the contrary For as Seminary Priests and Jesuites give it out that they are martyred for their Religion when the very truth is they are justly executed for ther prodigious treasons and felonious or treacherous practices against lawfull Princes and Estates So the disturbers of the Churches peace pretend they are persecuted for their consciences when they are indeed but justly censured for their obstinate and pertinacious contempt of lawfull authority Could they well remember it 't is they who be the true Ismaels not ceasing to infest their better brethren making head against their Heads and crying out like unto Libertines that all their Christian liberty is destroyed And why but because in these matters of order the private fancies of every idle head or addle braine may not countermand the warrantable authority of a publike Law nor set downe such Rites as shall better please them or in their judgements be thought more fitting then such as the Church ordaineth This were indeed to invade anothers right to give Lawes to our Law-givers an Husteron Proteron and therefore may not be Nay were it so that every man should be left to his owne liberty then look how many Congregations so many varieties There would be I dare say little or no concord but in diversities and disagreements and so the Church of God in one and the same Kingdome should be rent and torne most miserably The fourth Councell of Toledo had an eye hereunto Symson hist of the Church lib. 4. pag. 527 and did therefore in the second Canon thereof enjoyne one uniforme order in their Church service And surely seeing Christ's coat was without seame there is no reason why in one and the same Kingdome the orders should be different It were rather to be wished that the whole Catholicke Church throughout the Christian world under her several governours in every Kingdome or Church Nationall were ordered after one and the same manner but because this cannot be in every respect either in regard of the places times or conditions of the people it is left to the discretion of every Church to appoint such as shall best serve them for decency order and edification For if they be destitute of these properties they are but brutish and insignificant altogether unfit to stirre up the dull minde of man to the remembrance or expression of his duty to God For as it is with Tongues so with Ceremonies if they be darke and obscure or not understood they cannot edifie Many such are at this day in the Church of Rome and I thanke God that we of this Church are free enough from them It were well therefore that what appertaines unto us were better observed for in the generall their institution is divine
which we confesse and beleeve in the Apostles Creed so that as they pray to God for our good in generall in like manner we praise God for them in particular account their memory precious set their examples before us as the glasses of our lives and desire to be made partakers with them of the glorious resurrection in the life to come I would to God therefore that none but Puritanes were guilty of this sinne in sleighting such Holy Dayes others also cut off their esteeme more than is meet For that I may close up all with full satisfaction our Church appoints no set dayes for titular Saints such is are many in the Church of Rome but for such as were Apostles Evangelists and Martyrs indeed whom Christ honoured so much as to make some of them establishers and others as it were founders of that Kingdome which cost him his dearest blood and accounted them worthy to suffer death for his sake so that as one truly saith Mr Dow of the Sabbath and Lords Day pag. 62.64 and I speake it in his owne words we may justly solemnize either the dayes wherein those burning and shining Lights first appeared to the world or the dayes of their departure hence which were the dayes of their happy inauguration into the Kingdome of Glory when they both left to the Church Militant the glorious example of their Christian fortitude and became an occasion of new joy to the Church Triumphant by the accession of new citizens to that heavenly society On which dayes we honour God as the authour of all that good which either they or we by them are partakers of for our prayers and prayses are to him though with reference to them in what they have done So that they are honoured only as God's instruments and as those who having beene imitatours of our blessed Saviour are worthy patternes of our imitation Neither is such a day more holy than another but in relation to the separation of it to such holy and religious duties which the Church ordaineth to be performed on it And therefore lest in the revolution of time ingratefull forgetfulnesse should obliterate the blessed memory of such just ones we have these solemne Feasts and set Dayes in an annuall memoriall of them to the glory of him whose Instruments they were And so an end to this Section SECT IV. I Come now to a fourth particular namely that the people no way hinder their spiritual Fathers whether Bishops or others from going on cheerfully in their offices for if through default of their flocke they goe on Gementes it cannot in conclusion but be wofully grievous unto those over whom they watch Heb. 13.17 Consider therefore and marke it well and withall observe that he who hath said Touch not mine Anointed 1 Chron. 16.22 Psal 105.15 said also And doe my Prophets no harme Yea and further that the word of God may have a free passage Pray for us saith another Scripture For as we desire that to you may be a doore of entrance Ephes 6.19 whereby you may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus so is it also on your parts to provide that our doore of utterance bee not barred through your occasion All which in a word tends to this that you afflict not trouble or molest your ghostly Fathers For if you must study to be quiet 1 Thess 4.1 Rom. 12.18 1 Thess 5.13 Ephes 6.15 Esa 32.17 and have peace with all men then much more with those who preach the glad tidings of such good things as Peace and divide aright unto you the Bread of Life on which your soules except you meane to be damned dye and perish must bee sure to feed What I wonder is it that * You who vex your Pastors peace Luke 10.3 you thinke You are but Wolves if you worry those who are sent like Lambes among you Christ hath said it nay did foresee it and the Church of God especially the Ministers of truth Gal. 4.16 have alwayes found it and may therefore in the Herauldry of their Divinity take up the Crosse as their most significant Armes and paint it forth in a sable field portraying for the Crest a Wolfe rampant crushing in his pawes an Innocent Dove or an Harmlesse Lambe out of whose mouth may come this Posie or Motto Facere bonum habere malum For thus it was with Christ Hee pittied Iohn 7. and was mocked hee healed and was hurt Yea and thus hath it beene not seldome since with those whom he sendeth after him bee they never so wary how they walke or never so carefull how they instruct SECT V. BUt here is not all Impoverish not is another branch Luke 10.7 Jam. 5.4 For the Labourer is alwayes worthy of his hire and to detaine it from him is a crying sin The old Pharisee was therefore in this an honest man Hee would not rob the Church but payed tithes of all that he possessed not neglecting so much as Mint Annise and Rue Which practice of his was welapproved by our Saviour not as a thing arbitrary but as a thing necessary Christ setteth an oportet upon it Math. 23.23 Luke 11.42 or a necessity of so doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These things ought ye to have done And Saint Paul also teacheth it in such Texts of Scripture as I shall afterwards mention Howbeit men for the most part now are of another minde For that which God requires not only as a token of his Universall dominion and liberall donation but as a meanes to uphold his worship and service is too eagerly cried down by them who rob the Church saying as did Iudas of the precious ointment Ad quid perdito haec Wherefore is all this waste For thus do the sacrilegious worldlings in their hungry zeale gape after the spoile and ruine of the Church And although many of them may perhaps seeme more devote than the residue of that crew yet may we expect as little good from them to the Church of God as from the rest who march more openly For many will goe with the Wisemen from the East to seeke Christ yea and will fall downe and worship him but they are grown too wise to open their treasures except it be in a manner of a scant almes to a wandring Levite fitting to their fancies or if more perhaps some miserable mod cum by way of stipend to a discontented Separatist who beareth as little love to the Church in her Governours as they in her revenewes or honourable maintenance This makes us heare much talke many times of competencies stipends and benevolence But as for tythes if the Clergy should have them all then farewell to the Laity cry these small friends to God Almighty They would therfore that tythes should be every where abolished excepting from their owne hands that thereby they may the better bring the Priests to impotency scorne and misery Not remembring that whilst they contend to
at their payments to the Church Poore or to their Ministers The Prodigall thinkes all too little for himselfe and therefore is loath to spare any thing from the feeding of his owne unthrifty vanities And last of all the proud like Corah and his company thinke Ministers take too much upon them They scorne they contemne they despise to be ruled by them and therefore being without religion they judge it good policie to curtall the Ministers maintenance that by that meanes they may keepe him under and do what they list Object Oh Object 8 but Christ and his Apostles tooke no tythes they were content with a poore and meane estate therefore the Ministers of the Gospel may not be rich they may not claime the Tenth as their proper due Answ This was as Master Robarts well observeth at the first the subtilty of the crafty Friars to undermine the Incumbents Answ and beneficed Curates and is now the practise of not a few to seduce such as are either envious or ignorant It is indeed requisite as well for Ministers as for all other Christians both to bee and to seeme regardlesse of worldly things yet must we not be as hee againe observeth either so superstitious as to fling away and abhorre or so carelesse as to despise or specially so bad as to betray that faire portion wherewith God hath endowed our callings Neither againe secondly is it a fit argument to say because things were thus and thus in the beginning of the Gospel under an heathen Magistrate and in such times as persecution made havocke of the Church and put all things out of square that therefore they ought not to have bin otherwise Things were then so well as the times and occasions would suffer not so well as by degrees they came afterwards to be and yet even then could the Apostle urge the Lords ordinance to be still of force and that the Hearers ought to communicate to their Teachers in all their goods Which liberty though lawfull they could not but suspend for a time for feare of hindring a new plantation and so the Apostle speaketh in the first Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 9. Verse 12. Howbeit the fact doth not alwayes prove the Right no not in this very thing as it is at the 4.5 and 6. verses of the forenamed Chapter nor ever were things setled or brought into their due order on a sudden witnesse both our owne experience in what wee have seene as also the experience which Paul himselfe had of the first times why else did hee say That the rest he would set in order when he came 1 Cor. 11.34 And therefore to speake in the words of a learned Writer as Circumcision was laide aside for a time Dr. Carlt. of tythes c. 4. pag 22. whilst Israel travelled through the wildernesse not because the people of right ought not then also to have used it but because it was so incommodious for that estate and time of the Church See Iosh Chap. 5. that it could not without great trouble be practised Even so the use of tythes in the time of Christ and his Apostles was laid aside not because it ought not but because it could not on the suddaine without great inconvenience be admitted And as Circumcision was resumed as soon as the estate of the Church could beare it so tythes were reestablished as so one as the condition of the Church could suffer it Besides the Apostles as their callings to the Ministery were immediate so their gifts were extraordinary and therefore Saint Paul could preach without study and so had much spare time for other busines wherein it was convenient for the present to get his living rather then to require the tythes and offerings as was wont to be done of old by those who did the service And why not require them I have already shewed Wereas wee though God hath given us gifts and these of sundry measures yet without study wee cannot doe so with them as is fit wee should Wee therefore study both to increase them and also profitably to employ them And so doing wee have more reason to claime our just dues then they of the first times For meanes you know is requisite if for no other cause yet for this that wee may bee the better furnished with Bookes and such necessary helpes as may make us the more able to goe on the more powerfully in the workes of our calling praying alwayes for Gods blessing upon our labours and studious endeavours for it is not labour alone without prayer nor prayer without paines-taking that can doe it I my selfe have knowne this example of Saint Pauls working with his owne hands not seldome urged against the honourable maintenance of our present Clergy but we see God be thanked that it is to very little purpose It was not ordinary for all the Apostle to doe the like nor yet out of the power of either Paul or Barnabas to have done other wise For which see the proofe in the 1 Cor. 9.5.6 Moreover tythes were payed to the Priests and Levites in the time of Christ and his Apostles And we know that the Iewish Synagogue must be first buried before these duties could bee ordinarily performed towards the Ministers of the Gospel and so when the Synagogue was buried and the state of the Church of Christ such as could beare the practise of paying tythes they were brought into use in the Church of Christ as formerly in the dayes of the Iewish Synagogue Also in the Churches nonage or first infancy her Ministers were but few and unsetled whereas afterwards they were otherwise and must then be hospitable ready to entertaine and be freely devoted to workes of Charity but without thier due revenew how could they performe any part of this duty for Charity wee know begins at home and a man must first have wherewithall before he can give It was not long therefore before order was taken for their honourable maintenance Something vvas done at the very first vvherein some Churches as Saint Paul speaketh vvere more forward then others were and unto this vvas added daily more and more not in one kind alone Mr. Rob. pag. 61. but in a second Insomuch that in a short space provision was made for the Ministers of the Church two manner of wayes partly by the bounty of well disposed people which tooke place at the first and partly by tythes and offerings as soone as might bee which were paid them More Levitarum as formerly to the Levites And herein Zanchie hath well collected what wee find in ancient Writers viz. that these revenues both of tythes and offerings were wont to be paid to the Bishop of each Diocesse at whose direction they were distributed among the Ministers appertaining to every such division For in the beginning of those times the whole Clergy did in common attend the whole flocke the Bishop and the Ministers for the most part living as it were in common together But
when the Church began more and more to stretch out her armes over the world or when the state of it did require another course namely that particular men should bee assigned to particular Cures constantly to reside among them for by that meanes they could the better see to them admonish exhort and comfort them then every Minister had the tythes and oblations of his own parish which fitly agreeth to that questionary direction of blessed Saint Paul Who feedeth a flocke and eateth not of the milke of the stocke Say I these things as a man or saith not the Law the same also And now suppose it could be proved that the Primitive times paied no tythes for a long while together no not till towards the end of the first foure hundred yeeres yet were this nothing against that right which the Church had alwayes to them If the inconveniences which Persecution brought upon the Church was an hinderance concerning practise what were this against the Right A facto ad jus as I have already shewed is no good argument And indeed without suppose this is certaine that the practise as well as the right was manifested long before foure hundred yeares I shall produce some testimonies and then passe on to the first times of their alienation declaring likewise the successe that it found in after-times among such as delighted to strip the Church of these holy dues 1. Origen shall be first he was famous about the yeare of our Lord 226 and thus hee sayth Quia unus est author omnium Homil. 16. in Genes fons initium unus est Christus ideirco populus Decimas quidem Ministris Sacerdotibus praestat which is Becacuse there is one Authour of all one fountaine one beginning even one Christ therefore the people payeth Tythes to the Ministers and Priests 2. Saint Austine also who was borne in the yeare 350 hath recorded that the paying of Tythes was practised long before his time For Majores nostri Decimas dabant Homil. 48. inter quinque bomil Our Ancestours payed tythes And if his Ancestors then a practice of greater antiquitie than himselfe Ideo copijs abundant quia Deo Decimas dabant c. They therefore abounded with plenty because they payed their Tythes unto God See also his 219 Sermon De tempore which is wholy for paying of Tythes 3. And Saint Ambrose who was famous about the yeare 374 admonisheth concerning due care in the practice of this dutie Serm. 34. inseria 3. post prim Dom. Quadrages whose words be these Quicunque recognoscit in se quod sideliter Decimas suas non dederit modo emendet quod minus secit That is whosoever knowes in himselfe that he hath not faithfully payed his Tythes let him amend what 's amisse 4. And in the imperfect worke upon Saint Mathew sayd to be Chrysostomes who flourished about the yeare 398 it is thus written Homil. 44. Quod si Decimas populus non attulerit murmurant omnes All which wee see is spoken concerning practice which must needes be more ancient than these men as by their words appeareth although we cannot declare in what yeare of the Primitive times it first began Neither upon a further view can we finde that there was any manifest or remarkeable corruption in this practice untill a long while after No manifest corruption in practise concerning the alienation of Tythes from the Ministers doing the service into any other hand untill the dayes of Carolus Martellus Major of France who came to that office about the yeare 714 as Calvisius writeth and looke what he did was upon this occasion When those Barbarous people the Hunnes Gothes 〈◊〉 Rob pag. 74. out of Gagwin hist of France lib. 4. and Vandals were become lords of Italie and the Sarazens began to set themselves against France Charles Martell was chosen to goe out with an Armie against them but would by no meanes undertake that charge untill he had gotten the Clergie of the sayd kingdome to resigne their Tythes into his hands that thereby he might maintaine the Warre promising and protesting that when the Warres were ended he would restore againe unto them their owne and that with advantage To which request the Church and Clergie there yeelded partly through feare of being spoyled by the enemie and partly by the faire promises of this new chosen Captaine But the Warre being ended and the enemie conquered he broke his promise with the Clergie dealt perfidiously with them and gave the Revenue of Tythes among such of his Souldiers as hee thought good to reward This was done about the yeare of our Lord 740 Calvis Chron. little lesse than a yeare or thereabouts before the sayd Martells death for hee dyed in the yeare 741 upon the 22 day of October His story is recorded by many and they very ancient Authours See Dr. Tillesely c. 5. Ivo in his Chronicle calls him Tutudi and sayth this Tutudi who by his people was called Martellus because sieldome he had peace in his Kingdome gave for the most part the Church estate for wages to his Souldiers who being dead and buried in St. Dennis Church on the left side of the great Altar was seene by night in the shape of a great Dragon breaking the Sepulchre to go out of the glasse windowes with great terrour Thus he But whether this last of his carrying out of the Grave betrue yea or no it makes no matter nor will I contend about it Certaine it is that he was a notable Church-robber For Boniface Archbishop of Mentz who lived at the same time complaines likewise of him and is a witnesse that he tooke away Monasteries Bishoprickes Church-rents and possessions from the Clergie and prophaned them to Lay-hands as are ward of their military service then done against the Sarazens And for any man to thinke that Tythes were no part of this great Sacriledge is to affirme that the Church as yet had no such Rents whereas it is witnessed by the foresayd Boniface That the milke and wooll of Christs sheepe was received in his times and the Lords flocke was neglected received I say Oblationibus quotidianis ac Decimis fid lium In the dayly oblations and Tythes of the faithfull And in the dayes of the second Councell at Mascon a Bishopricke in the Diocesse of Lions in the yeare 586 which was 155 yeares before Martells death Churches had their tenths payd them out of that annuall increase wherewith God Almightie blessed his people Nor hath it but beene already * See also St. Cyprian epist 66. sou lib. 1. epist 9. where memion is made of paying of tythes He flourished about the yeare 240. shewed that Tythes were payd in the dayes of Origen Ambrose Austine and Chrisostome And in the relation of the Centuriatours who quoted what they sayd from Aventine mention is made that Carloman restored Tythes formerly taken away by Martell And so also sayth Goldistus in his
edition 1613 although in his edition 1610 hee mentions them by the name of Pecunia Ecclesialis which is no great advantage neither but may bee well interpreted by the word Decimae as a generall by a speciall But howsoever what is one Authour against more and yet this one in his last thoughts is nothing differing but speakes just like those other already mentioned Well then without further question here was the originall of Infeodations and first beginning of lamentable Sacriledge in the alienation of Tythes from the Ministers or Churches to the which they were payd And in the summe of the whole answere note that at the first they that had possessions sold them and brought the money to the Apostles this was about Ierusalem And in other Churches collections were made both for the necessities of the Saints and of the Ministers Then after this it was thought more convenient rather that such as were minded to give should give the Lands themselves rather I say than the price of them that thereby they might remaine as a perpetuall helpe to the Church Here began the endowment of the Church with Gleab and this is commonly attributed out of Polidore Virgil Polid. De invent lib. 6. c. 10. and others to the dayes of Urban the first who was in the * Calvis in Chron. yeare 224 about which time Origen spake of Tythes as of things then payd I have alreadie shewed it And before Parishes were divided these were at the disposing of the Bishop and payd unto him for the use of the Clergie within the Diocesse But Parishes being divided which was in the dayes of Dennis the first about * See Folid Virg lib. 4. c. 6. the yeare 266 they were annexed to the Priests of particular Cures For the defence of whom that they might not bee wronged in their dues there were certaine temporall men appointed either by godly Kings or by such as gave Lands to the Church to bee Patrons of Churches or Defensores Ecclesiarum who might be readie to defend the Churches rights And yet perhaps some particular parishes which were by reason of such Churches as were of Lay foundations were not knowne till some while after and yet not so long after as some have thought For by the fourth Canon of the Councell of Arausicanum held in the yeare 441. it appeareth that Parish Oratories and Churches of Lay-foundations were even then to beseene But what need I loose my selfe in this argument for let a man take these things which way hee pleaseth yet still hee may see that tythes as well as other Church goods belonged and were generally paid to the Clergy either in their own Cures or to the Bishops for them before the dayes of Charles Martell who was the first that brought in the most manifest corruption concerning their alienation for albeit Iulian robbed the Church yet hee did it as a Persecutor from whom no lesse could be expected And although the successors of Martel were more honest and restored somewhat backe againe taking in Lease from the Churches in regard of the imminent warres and many invasions of the enemy such parts as were retained and doing all this with great circumspection hoping that under the favour of God in this necessity they might thus and not otherwise without prejudice doe it yet the former example of Charles Martel was the more powerfull and in succeeding times proved but as a dangerous Load-starre to direct divers other countries to imitate his practise and to prophane their greedy hands with the Priests maintenance while on the other side the Pope did as fast appropriate Parsonages to Abbies and Nunneries which in those blind times was thought to bee no wrong it being commonly conceited that preaching bred nothing but heresies schismes and contentions and that therefore there was no better way to save soules then by the devotions of Monkes and Friars Which also was a cause as superstition more and more increased to get no small portions fraudulently from the hands of the deceived Laity it being a constant practise to give and give evermore to those idle Droanes and fat-bellied Houses that thereby they might have the more speedy passage out of feigned Purgatory To which likewise adde how the Popes againe although they would have somewhat restrained the covetousnes of the Monkes when they saw the greatnesse of it fixed upon another project For that they might enrich their Favourites friends and kindred they would not seldome convert the tythes to their uses And now to countenance and helpe forward these practises with a colour of warrantable proceedings Alexander de Hales began to broach a new Doctrine concerning the right of tythes never knowne nor heard of among the ancient Fathers For this was the Doctrine of the Fathers both Greek and Latine that tythes are due to the Ministers of the Gospel by the word of God secundum literam literally and precisely as they were in the old Testament to the Priests of the Law whereas this Hales who was about the yeare 1230 taught otherwise namely that it was a part of the Morall Law naturally written in the heart that something should be paied but as for the Quota pars it had its dependance meerly upon the Iudiciall Law and so the Tenth was onely positively due and no otherwise due according as the Lawes positively should determine In which Doctrine was inferred that they who might make the Lawes indetermination of the Quotitie which was to be paid might alienate to severall uses as much out of that portion as they pleased The Schoole-men went after him in the same steps to the utmost of their power strained their wits for the upholding of such a politike opinion Howbeit the event proved afterwards extreamely pernicious First in occasioning that heresie which held them as Almes And secondly in giving occasion also to the civil power to take from the Church not only the jurisdiction of tythes but to alienate them in the end from the Church Church-men to a meere civill use Wherein yet one thing is observeable that although the times were darke there was alwayes some or other beside the Canonists who opposed the abbettours of this new doctrine and taught this point of tything not after the corrupt tenets of the School-men but as the Fathers had done before them of which you may reade more in Dr. Carletous history of tythes Chap. 5. And for the doctrine of the Fathers see Doctor Tillesley in his Catalogue of 72. testimonies cleane contrary to what was taught by Hales Aquinas and the rest And last of all why and how they are within the compasse of the Morall and not Ceremoniall or Iudicial Lawes no not for their Quotitie I have already shewed And therefore as known by paid in the name and portion of a Tenth part before the Law unlesse a man could find somewhere in Gods word an expresse command to the contrary For looke but unto the time of the Law it selfe which was the middle time between the time of Nature and of Grace and you shall find I grant that the worship of God in regard of the manner thereof is ceased since the Passion of Christ but God hath caused the ceasing of so much as is ceased Ephes 2.15 Colos 2.14 And looke what was not abrogated by Christ that still remaineth as being the substance which is perpetual Mr. Rob. revenue of the Gosp pag. 10. So also of Gods right or portion which he had in the time of the Law some parts are ceased viz. those fragments of the Sacrifices which were the shares of the Priests for even the Sacrifices themselves being types of Christ to come are fulfilled and abolished in and by Christ being come But tythes as hath beene proved were no types of Christ neither in their substance nor in their circumstance but were only the maintenance of Gods publike worship which being perpetuall they also are perpetual In a word they did belong to the worship of God before there was a Leviticall worship and when they were paid to the Levites they did but follow Gods worship as being principally due to the service and not to the men but for the service sake and so also still such must be their end of Assignation For Levi should have had as little portion in them as any of the other Tribes if God had not chosen him from the rest to the Ministery Num. 18.21 And as for Lay-men besides this that they doe no service the very name of Impropriation pleads against them I shall stil therefore urge that what the Patriarkes and old people of the Iewes practised by the Law of nature or the rule of right reason or by inspiration of Gods spirit many hundred yeers before the Ceremoniall or Leviticall Law was given are not to be ranked among Iudaicall Ceremonies which were fulfilled in our Saviour Christ and were by him taken away nailed to his Crosse This is all for I know nothing else of moment which can bee objected And therefore here an end of this Discourse which may be to the faulty a Correction of their errours if they will if not they have just cause to feare it as a witnesse one day to bee brought forth against them For what have I done but declared such truths as the Scriptures Fathers Councils and other Histories of good authority have recorded Soli Deo gloria FINIS